CEO talks to WSJ about looking beyond the Windows PC market for continued growth.

If Asus CEO Jerry Shen gets his way, the VivoTab RT will be neither the smallest nor the cheapest Windows tablet the company makes.

Andrew Cunningham

The PC market is not a growth driver these days. So while computer, tablet, and PC component maker Asus has had a good quarter ($204.6 million in profit, up from $169.5 million a year ago), the company is continuing to look at new form factors and price points to drive future growth.

CEO Jerry Shen told the Wall Street Journal that one of these new markets would be small Windows 8 tablets. Microsoft's recent changes to the Windows 8 logo certification requirements have opened the door to 7- and 8-inch Windows tablets, and Shen sees those devices dropping down to $300 and below. Asus already makes a wide variety of Android and Windows tablets, including the Nexus 7 and the VivoTab RT, though its current Windows tablets tend to start somewhere between $400 and $500.

In addition to cheaper Windows tablets, PC World reports that Shen is interested in entering the Chromebook fray, a segment which he feels will continue to gain momentum throughout this year and into next. PC OEMs like Lenovo and HP have already introduced their first Chromebooks this year, and their cost (and build quality) ranges from $199 for Acer's C7 Chromebook all the way up to the $1,449.99 of the LTE-equipped Chromebook Pixel.

"Chromebook is good, not on the consumer side, but it's good in the education and government side, and some for the commercial side," Shen said.

30 Reader Comments

I have to admit that I don't understand what Asus is saying here. Small windows tablets are just going to be much more difficult to use, you won't be able to get a big enough keyboard for that and still have a compact tablet. I suppose someone could come up with some sort of foldable keyboard cover, but that will be flimsy. And tapping with a stylus on a 7" Win 8 screen will give a level of frustration that would try anyone's patience.

The other problem is how they can get a processor that's equivelant to at least an i3 mobile chip into one of those things without having it melt, and giving more than three hours of use. And I thought we were reading that Microsoft was charging a lot for the OS, over $60. How will all of this resolve into a $300 tablet, with the processor price, and license fees being as high as they are?

Who exactly buys a Chromebook when you can get a Windows laptop for $250? I don't see what government or school would buy that when you get millions of applications and business compatibility with Windows.

"Chromebook is good, not on the consumer side, but it's good in the education and government side, and some for the commercial side," Shen said.

I wonder whose government he is talking about?

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Here in Brazil many government employees use only web apps, like police officers and such, so Chromebooks (and Chromeboxes) would be a good option for them. Most of the computers are already desktops using Linux, might as well go for devices with lower CPU requirements and energy demand. Or ditch Google and use ChromiumOS.

Who exactly buys a Chromebook when you can get a Windows laptop for $250? I don't see what government or school would buy that when you get millions of applications and business compatibility with Windows.

The advantage of a Chromebook is the minimal technical support needed. You don't have to worry about locking down the system (drivers, sysadmin, etc), malware, pirated stuff. It simply works, and if it breaks, you format and load the new image (because everything is backed up in the cloud).

Junior & High School students don't need millions of apps - they need a handful (browser, document editor, presentation editor, intro to programming).

I'm not saying a Chromebook is the solution, but I can attest to how difficult it is to maintain a windows ecosystem in an educational environment.

Who exactly buys a Chromebook when you can get a Windows laptop for $250? I don't see what government or school would buy that when you get millions of applications and business compatibility with Windows.

Local school here just bought chromebooks for all the students. It's for their textbooks.

Few programs require something specific in windows to run anymore. As frisbeefreak pointed out, and so did Peter Bright, windows backwards compatibility is a liability, not an asset.

Local school here just bought chromebooks for all the students. It's for their textbooks.

Few programs require something specific in windows to run anymore.

I guess outside of business that may be becoming true if you only care about web browsing, especially as people run games more on dedicated hardware like the PS3/Xbox. But business sets the standard for what people have to use and are familiar to use. Which is still means Windows.

Who exactly buys a Chromebook when you can get a Windows laptop for $250? I don't see what government or school would buy that when you get millions of applications and business compatibility with Windows.

The advantage of a Chromebook is the minimal technical support needed. You don't have to worry about locking down the system (drivers, sysadmin, etc), malware, pirated stuff. It simply works, and if it breaks, you format and load the new image (because everything is backed up in the cloud).

Isn't that what Windows Store apps do as well? Backs up to Skydrive. Simple installation. And in 8.1 also automatically updating apps and tab-syncing. Also touch friendly.

The advantage of a Chromebook is the minimal technical support needed. You don't have to worry about locking down the system (drivers, sysadmin, etc), malware, pirated stuff. It simply works, and if it breaks, you format and load the new image (because everything is backed up in the cloud).

Junior & High School students don't need millions of apps - they need a handful (browser, document editor, presentation editor, intro to programming).

I'm not saying a Chromebook is the solution, but I can attest to how difficult it is to maintain a windows ecosystem in an educational environment.

Isn't that the principle behind the PC Refresh function in Windows 8? Instant working system again.

Students often need tools like Adobe CS if they are doing anything design related (for example) so I still think the use of what is basically a web browser as the 'do all' platform is a stretch. A Mac or PC will meet their needs so much better.

I'd say trying to only use a Chromebook is comparable to being a student and only using an iPad. It may be possible for some, but someone with a Mac or PC will have a much easier time.

Who exactly buys a Chromebook when you can get a Windows laptop for $250? I don't see what government or school would buy that when you get millions of applications and business compatibility with Windows.

The advantage of a Chromebook is the minimal technical support needed. You don't have to worry about locking down the system (drivers, sysadmin, etc), malware, pirated stuff. It simply works, and if it breaks, you format and load the new image (because everything is backed up in the cloud).

Isn't that what Windows Store apps do as well? Backs up to Skydrive. Simple installation. And in 8.1 also automatically updating apps and tab-syncing. Also touch friendly.

Windows 8 is not even in the same league as Chrome OS when it comes to simplicity or security. Windows 8 is designed to be scalable. Chrome OS is designed to be minimalistic and focused, and as a result has security built into the base operating system. You can compromise your web account, but any compromise to Chrome OS will not survive a reboot.

Local school here just bought chromebooks for all the students. It's for their textbooks.

Few programs require something specific in windows to run anymore.

I guess outside of business that may be becoming true if you only care about web browsing, especially as people run games more on dedicated hardware like the PS3/Xbox. But business sets the standard for what people have to use and are familiar to use. Which is still means Windows.

Isn't that the principle behind the PC Refresh function in Windows 8? Instant working system again.

Students often need tools like Adobe CS if they are doing anything design related (for example) so I still think the use of what is basically a web browser as the 'do all' platform is a stretch. A Mac or PC will meet their needs so much better.

I'd say trying to only use a Chromebook is comparable to being a student and only using an iPad. It may be possible for some, but someone with a Mac or PC will have a much easier time.

Chrome OS will not allow you to modify the boot files unless you boot into developer mode. When you leave developer mode it resets the OS files, wiping out any changes you have made. As the system is not designed to be extended or allow running in administrator mode its security design is in a different league from Windows RT, let alone Windows 8 which allows unsigned code.

My point about giving away your account credentials was more that no operating system is more secure than the person behind the keyboard (touchscreen).

This sounds like the race to the bottom all over again.There is only so much that you can cut before build quality, performance & hence user experience suffers.

The netBook "race to the bottom" was a problem for manufacturers, as their margins shrank, but not consumers.... The Asus Eee PCs were (and still are) dirt cheap, and the quality is pretty damn good. I like everything about my tiny Asus Eee PC more than any other laptop I've owned... with the possible exception of lacking a few ports (HDMI?). The relatively slow CPUs don't hinder much of anything that I do.

While full-powered 10" Win8 Pro tablets make sense, I'm having difficulty seeing how this would work in the market for 7" devices. Current Android and iOS devices in that category are thin, light and will run a full day, and those features are the whole point of getting a small tablet - but that's not going to happen on x86 anytime soon. So that leaves you with WinRT and the Metro AppStore....

If Microsoft gave WinRT domain access that would change things a lot, but mostly because of custom business apps.

Chrome OS will not allow you to modify the boot files unless you boot into developer mode. When you leave developer mode it resets the OS files, wiping out any changes you have made. As the system is not designed to be extended or allow running in administrator mode its security design is in a different league from Windows RT, let alone Windows 8 which allows unsigned code.

Windows RT on ARM has secure boot that can't be turned off, so I guess that would be about the same. Ok, on x86 it's a little different. But that's why WOA is seen as an appliance and Windows 8 as a full system. I'll admit you can't have the flexibility of Windows 8 AND an appliance-like security model.

Who exactly buys a Chromebook when you can get a Windows laptop for $250? I don't see what government or school would buy that when you get millions of applications and business compatibility with Windows.

The advantage of a Chromebook is the minimal technical support needed. You don't have to worry about locking down the system (drivers, sysadmin, etc), malware, pirated stuff. It simply works, and if it breaks, you format and load the new image (because everything is backed up in the cloud).

Junior & High School students don't need millions of apps - they need a handful (browser, document editor, presentation editor, intro to programming).

I'm not saying a Chromebook is the solution, but I can attest to how difficult it is to maintain a windows ecosystem in an educational environment.

Who exactly buys a Chromebook when you can get a Windows laptop for $250? I don't see what government or school would buy that when you get millions of applications and business compatibility with Windows.

The advantage of a Chromebook is the minimal technical support needed. You don't have to worry about locking down the system (drivers, sysadmin, etc), malware, pirated stuff. It simply works, and if it breaks, you format and load the new image (because everything is backed up in the cloud).

Isn't that what Windows Store apps do as well? Backs up to Skydrive. Simple installation. And in 8.1 also automatically updating apps and tab-syncing. Also touch friendly.

Windows 8 is not even in the same league as Chrome OS when it comes to simplicity or security. Windows 8 is designed to be scalable. Chrome OS is designed to be minimalistic and focused, and as a result has security built into the base operating system. You can compromise your web account, but any compromise to Chrome OS will not survive a reboot.

"current Windows tablets tend to start somewhere between $400 and $500" - sorry, DOA - if Win8 tablets are going to succeed, they need to be cheaper than a Kindle Fire or a Nexus 7, so people will impulse buy them - at $400, you seriously have to think about buying the next WebOS dead-end device.

I would say some schools who have much of their materials online might benefit from a Chromebook. But I still question their usefulness? For one thing many schools lack decent wireless connections and when you add in many classrooms and students using a Chromebook that basically relies on internet then I think you have a question of weather the network can handle it? Again, for me I think technology is dividing the have's from the have not's even further. In many cases Chromebooks are probably considered only because of their price and no real homework is done about how well they actually work.I know one school district who went iPads for their books and found out the hard way how much they failed to look at the total impact of such a investment. Not only the iPads but upgrading the network, dealing with contracts for web books, compatibility with the iPads on existing material and what to do about the repair and replacement costs of iPads. I will be interested to eventually find out if these early adopters find savings in going tech with school materials or if it will just be a money pit nobody predicted.

My Chromebook rocks. Quick and easy access to the web, easy data entry. Google Apps is great for quick documents, spreadsheets, etc. $250 for a Samsung with exceptional build quality, just what you need, when you need it. Hard to find a fault with it. is this enterprise ready? Maybe for a call center, or help desk with a web based front end for reps. customer service? Absolutely! For me, as an IT admin, I can use the remote desktop, and get to my servers, I could make do, but it would be difficult. The Chrome book won't replace the laptop for 80% of users, but in all honesty, if it is all my kids ever saw, they would find it more than sufficient for their cloud based uses. Cheaper than an iPad, and if it is lost, no real data loss either. Windows 8 is the death knell for Microsoft. If they don't right the ship, they will be like Oracle or Cisco, with no consumer facing products. That's not a bad thing, but its not what Ballmer wants.

For the majority of their schoolwork? I don't think anyone is talking about removing an art lab, or other focused environment in this thread.

To be honest, as a high school student, I think that everything except programming, art classes, and music theory/composition (maybe not the last one) could be done in a web browser. It would solve the problems of people playing Counterstrike in the labs off the shared drive I guess (against school rules, but the IT guys still haven't found iton the network drive).

I would say some schools who have much of their materials online might benefit from a Chromebook. But I still question their usefulness? For one thing many schools lack decent wireless connections and when you add in many classrooms and students using a Chromebook that basically relies on internet then I think you have a question of weather the network can handle it? Again, for me I think technology is dividing the have's from the have not's even further. In many cases Chromebooks are probably considered only because of their price and no real homework is done about how well they actually work.I know one school district who went iPads for their books and found out the hard way how much they failed to look at the total impact of such a investment. Not only the iPads but upgrading the network, dealing with contracts for web books, compatibility with the iPads on existing material and what to do about the repair and replacement costs of iPads. I will be interested to eventually find out if these early adopters find savings in going tech with school materials or if it will just be a money pit nobody predicted.

It depends on the school, but at my school, everyone logs in via the domain and saves their files there, and so you need network access anyway. The network's not great in some classes (a problem with phones and their weaker antennas), but it's good enough for laptops. That said, the local community college has terrible wifi - I helped out with a class there, and ended up having to use ethernet because the wifi is almost unusable. (the access point must be upstairs or something - very weak reception everywhere, even on a laptop, and you're not allowed to bring in your own router) The school also has some iPads, and they haven't been particularly useful IMO. (they're not used for textbooks though)

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.